Happy Birthday, The Great Khali: WWE great turns 48

New Delhi, 27-Aug-2020

The Great Khali turns 48 today. Born on 27 August 1972 in Dhirana village of Himachal Pradesh as Dalip Singh Rana, this famous Indian-born American professional wrestler is better known by the ring name The Great Khali of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). He has dabbled in modelling, acting, and of course, his rich haul of wins in WWE makes all Indians proud. After all, he was the first Indian to win the World Heavyweight Championship in WWE history. He has beaten the famous WWE wrestler The Undertaker and Big Show in the ring. Khali's story is one of inspiration and motivation in the face of dire poverty. His family was battling poverty and his parents could not provide Rs 2.50 towards his school fees, which cost him the continuity of education, reports Jansatta. He later worked on wages of Rs 5 per day as a gardener in his village. In his book "The Man Who Became Khali", the man who today stands 7 feet, 1 inch tall and weighs 157 kg, writes that in 1979, during peak summer, when his parents had suffered huge losses on account of famine and a failed crop, his teacher threw him out of school for having failed to pay the fees of Rs 2.50. Khali recalls how not only was his name struck off the school rolls, he was also ridiculed and mocked by fellow students who were well-off. That was the moment the boy decided that he will never again go to school. Then he heard of an opening for a gardener's job on daily wages. For a mere Rs 5 per day, he had to trek down the hills to the village 4 km below and fetch saplings to plant. He did that with joy as Rs 5 per day was twice the amount he needed for monthly school fees. Later a Punjab police office AS Bhullar came across this youth and offered him a job in Punjab police. Khali came to the notice of famous wrestler Dorian Yates when he had accompanied his friend - Rewari wrestler Amit Swami - to the Indira Gandhi International airport to see Yates. It was Yates who was impressed with the physique of this youth then called 'Dali Singh Rana'. The youth took Yates' suggestions seriously and went to Japan to train. A move to WWE then changed his fortunes and the rest is, as they say, history. He assumed the name Khali in WWE because he is a devotee of Maa Kaali the Goddess. The WWE folks could not process the correct pronunciation of Kaali, so they made it to Khali - The Great Khali. After retiring from WWE, Khali lives in Atlanta with wife Harminder Kaur whom he married in an arranged match on February 27, 2002. The couple has a daughter Alveena Rana, born on February 26, 2014.